A Fool's Progress - jitters
"What if the trips sucks?" "What if I hit a record hurricane/tornado season?" "What if the bike fails me?"
What if.. what if... what if.... I could 'what if' myself right into a small hole and pull it in after myself if I am not careful. But really it is just jitters. Foreplay if you will. It isnt in my genetic code to bag on a trip because of jitters. My ancestors are sailors. We are a superstitious lot. We rub rabbit's feet. We we rub the Buddha's belly. But when the tide turns, we cast off and set sail.
I have done all I can to plan for the unexpected and to take what will be most useful if I need to improvise. I got tools. Some common parts. A head full of knowledge. Notes in case I forget. I got addresses. I got numbers.
The most likely worst cases have been planned for as best I can:
Crashing - sucks. I'm geared and insured. Nothing else to do but keep my head on a swivel and the fatigue level low. If the bike is wadded but I'm okay, see "Bike Malfunction"
Bike Malfunction - theft. terminal motor failure. Backed over by a Peterbuilt. I am best prepared to deal with the mechanical stuff. Barring a complete motor sieze, I can have parts to me by next day air from a half dozen good shops. With tools and a little brainpower I can handle all but open heart surgery including the entire drivetrain. In the other cases, I have a set of funds devoted to renting a truck or some other means of getting me home, hopefully with the bike.
Illness - see Crashing
Weather - suck it up. If you were worried about weather, you should have brought a car, you sissy. Find a hole to wait in, reroute or man-up and push on.
Hostile Natives - Not much I can do about that except keep an eye open and a big smile on my kisser. If I pull a Mulekick (a feller on a bike trip who ended up jailed. his own silly fault), I'll just have to hire a lawshark and see what the options are. Because I am attracted to desolate places, cautions are necessary. Isolated desolate places often have desperate people. Depserate people do desperate things. I've never had a problem. Folks are usually friendly and I dont appear to be an easy target. So it is a pretty remote issue.
Tuesday. Saturday seems so far off.
What if.. what if... what if.... I could 'what if' myself right into a small hole and pull it in after myself if I am not careful. But really it is just jitters. Foreplay if you will. It isnt in my genetic code to bag on a trip because of jitters. My ancestors are sailors. We are a superstitious lot. We rub rabbit's feet. We we rub the Buddha's belly. But when the tide turns, we cast off and set sail.
I have done all I can to plan for the unexpected and to take what will be most useful if I need to improvise. I got tools. Some common parts. A head full of knowledge. Notes in case I forget. I got addresses. I got numbers.
The most likely worst cases have been planned for as best I can:
Crashing - sucks. I'm geared and insured. Nothing else to do but keep my head on a swivel and the fatigue level low. If the bike is wadded but I'm okay, see "Bike Malfunction"
Bike Malfunction - theft. terminal motor failure. Backed over by a Peterbuilt. I am best prepared to deal with the mechanical stuff. Barring a complete motor sieze, I can have parts to me by next day air from a half dozen good shops. With tools and a little brainpower I can handle all but open heart surgery including the entire drivetrain. In the other cases, I have a set of funds devoted to renting a truck or some other means of getting me home, hopefully with the bike.
Illness - see Crashing
Weather - suck it up. If you were worried about weather, you should have brought a car, you sissy. Find a hole to wait in, reroute or man-up and push on.
Hostile Natives - Not much I can do about that except keep an eye open and a big smile on my kisser. If I pull a Mulekick (a feller on a bike trip who ended up jailed. his own silly fault), I'll just have to hire a lawshark and see what the options are. Because I am attracted to desolate places, cautions are necessary. Isolated desolate places often have desperate people. Depserate people do desperate things. I've never had a problem. Folks are usually friendly and I dont appear to be an easy target. So it is a pretty remote issue.
Tuesday. Saturday seems so far off.
posted by Z at
8:18 AM
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